The Porcelain Doll in the Painting
WYNONNA EARP – Episode 209 – Forever Mine Nevermind – SPOILERS ⁓
Waverly
During a training session Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) observes: “I still can’t get over Constance being their sister-wife. Her outfits were so fiercely non-polygamous.” Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) adds that Constance was the “nice one”. The relationship between Sheriff Clootie (now the demon Bulshar) and his other two wives, invites speculation. The two don’t get along with one another. Perhaps they were human at the start, but were, like the Gardner sisters, taken over by The Widows.
Three of Constance Clootie’s ‘fiercely non-polygamous’ outfits.
Rosita (Tamara Duarte) resupplies Dolls (Shamier Anderson) with the synthetic drug that keeps him human. She has more or less perfected the formula, but the stuff goes bad in eight days. In appreciation of her efforts, Dolls gives Rosita a gift card for herself and a plus one at a local spa.
Rosita has three PhDs (Engineering, Biochemistry, and Astrology). The Astrology was just on online certification. “I was dating a Scorpio,” she explains, “and I panicked.”
The shopkeeper’s barbed tail is unusual for Purgatory’s demons.
Wynonna invites Doc (Tim Rozon) to the homestead for dinner with the intent of telling him that his ring is the third seal preventing the resurrection of the demon Bulshar, and persuading him to relinquish it. Unaware of her intent, Doc goes to a local curio shop and buys a painting to bring with him to dinner as a gift. The shopkeeper (Robert Verlaque) is revealed to have a barbed tail. The body of the actual shopowner is concealed behind the counter with a knife in its left eye.
Jamie Tognazzini as The Porcelain Doll from the painting.
In this episode, Waverly is flirted with by a demon, and a revenant saves her life. Why this sort of thing might happen to her is explained to some extent in “Jolene” (episode 3.5).
Another body has been found near town in a badly-burned state, and The Widow Beth (Meghan Heffern) identifies it as her brother Tucker (Caleb Ellsworth-Clark). While at the Sheriff’s Office, Beth flirts with Waverly, who flirts back, unaware that she is flirting with one of The Widows. Waverly is still mad at Nicole for trying to keep the results of her genetic tests from her. After Beth leaves, Jeremy (Varun Saranga) finds a non-human fingernail and remembers that Beth had a bandage on one finger. This leads Dolls to the conclusion that The Widows are impersonating the Gardner sisters. At the Gardner house, Dolls finds the real Beth and Mercedes imprisoned in the basement, faceless.
Nicole looks on disapprovingly as Waverly and Beth flirt.
Doc brings the painting to dinner, and is reluctant to give up his ring, which prevents him from aging. In the course of the conversation he explains to Wynonna why being stuck at the bottom of a well was so terrible for him. “You think getting tossed down that dark, enclosed space was arbitrary?” he asks, and answers his own question. “No. Constance chose that particular torture especially for me. When I was fourteen years old, my mama lay sick with tuberculosis. It was contagious, so they kept me from her side. I crawled into a space beneath the house, under her room, and do you know what I did, night after night? I listened to her cry. And beg. And pray. She died anyway, and I never again could stand tight quarters.”
A porcelain doll (played by Jamie Tognazzini) emerges from the painting and tries to grab the ring but is killed by Peacemaker after Doc’s conventional weapons have no effect. Doc realizes that his ring will make him a target of demons as long as he has it, so he gives it to Wynonna who agrees that the two of them will break the third seal together and kill Bulshar after he rises.
Rosita and Waverly in a hot tub with champagne.
Since Doc is otherwise occupied, Rosita goes to the spa with Waverly. They kiss once, and immediately both feel guilty. Rosita says “I’m with Doc.” and Waverly says “I’m with Nicole.” Then Tucker, who is not dead, turns up, kills Rosita, and tries to abduct Waverly, who is rescued by Rosita who did not actually die because she’s a revenant. Waverly suggests that Nicole might need some space (after the nasty text she sent her), but Rosita disagrees. “I gave a guy some space once.”, Rosita recalls. “Took up with his best friend, and that friend was on Wyatt’s shit list. Worst second date ever.” So like Robert Svane, Rosita was collateral damage when Wyatt Earp failed to ensure the safety of innocent bystanders.
The Widow Beth finds Tucker Gardner wandering in the woods, paralyzes him, and eats him alive.
The Widow Mercedes uses assorted charms to scry for the location of the third seal.
Widow Mercedes (Dani Kind) does some scrying using Constance Clootie’s charred, severed head as a talisman and incants: “I have been arrogant. When I first stepped out of that box — Oh, the freedom! Now Beth has abandoned me, my craft has faded. Please, I just need one more miracle. Myself to you I eternally give. Blood from myself spilled as I live. Reveal to me the seal of three. Command you by these rings. Be you forever my King. Husband, grant that which I seek!” She determines that the third seal is “with the law”, decides that this means Nicole, and pays the deputy a visit.
WYNONNA EARP: TALES FROM PURGATORY, is available from Audible.com.